Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-11-18


order was allowed to pass whither ne would
bv the guards; a permission or wnlch ne
often availed himself by roaming about the
palace during the still hours ina nocturnal
fashion peculiar TO himself, and by no
means uncommon amongst black men
generally. His presence in the corridors
Would not. therefore, be likely to excite
renark. Without any comment the Zulu
TOOK up his ak and departed; we also de-
parted to bed.
minutes when was awakened by pecul-
FAR sensation of uneasinesS. l lelt that
somebody was in the room and looking at
me. and instantly sat up, TO see to my sur
prise that il was already dawn, and that
It the foot of mY couch,
| and looking peculiarly grim ana gaunt IN
the gray light, was Umsioposaas himself.
How long hast thou been thereF' l
asked testify, for it IS not pleasant 10 De
aroused in such fashion.
''Mayhap the half of an hour, Macuma-
| Zahn | have a word for thee"
Speak on" l said, now wide enough
| awake.
"As was bid, | went last night TO the
place of the White Queen and hid myself
| behind pillar in the second anteroom, be-
| vond which is the sleeping place of the
Queen. Bougwan Good was in the first
anteroom, alone. and outside the curtain
| of that room was sentry; but | had mind
| to see if could pass In unseen, and / did,
| for many hours, when suddenly perceived
| a dark figure coming secretly towards me.
| 1t was the figure of a woman, and in her
| hand she held sharp knife. Behind that
| figure crept another, unseen by the wom-
an It was BOugwan following in her
| tracks. His shoes were off. and for so fat
| u man he followed very well. The woman
| passed me, and the starlight shone upon
| her face"
"Vho was it?" asked impatiently.
J. Zoo Of bn n.lN NF
| the Night and of a truth she is well named.
| I waited, and Bougwan passed me also:
| Then followed. So we went, slowly and
| without sound, up the long chamber.
| First the woman, then Bougwan, and then
| I: and the woman saw not Bougwan, and
! Bougwan saw not me. At last the Lady
| of the Night came to the curtains that
| shut off the sleeping-place of the White
| Queen, and put out her left hand to part
| them. She passed through and so did
| Bougwan, and so did l.. AT the FAR end or
| the room is the bed OF the Queen, and on
| it she lay very fast asleep. | could hear
| her breathe and see one white arm lying on
the covarlet, like streak of snow on the
| dry grass. The Lady of the Night doubled
| herself. thus. and with the long knife lift
| ed. crept towards the bed. So straight did
| she gaze thereat that she never thought to
| look behind her. When she was quite
| close Bougwan touched her on the arm,
aud she caught her breath and turned; and
| | saw the knife flash and heard it strike.
| Well was it for Bougwan Chat he had the
| skin of iuon on him, or he had been pierced.
| Then he saw who the woman was, and he
| fell back astonished and unable to speak.
| She too, was astontshed, and spoke not;
| but suddenly she laid her finger on her lip,
| thus, and walked towards and through the
| curtain and with her went BOugwan So
close did she pass to me that her dress
| touched me, and was nigh to staying her
| as she went. In the first outer room she
| spoke to Bougwan in whisper, and clasp
| ing her hands, thus, she pleaded with him;
| but what she said | know not. And 50
| they passed on to the second outer room,
| she pleading. and he shaking his head, and
| saying Nay, nay, nayn And it seemed to
| me that he was about to call the guard,
when she stopped talking and looked at
| him with her great eyes, and saw that he
was bewitched by her beauty. Then she
| stretched out her hand and he kissed it;
| whereon gathered myself together to ad-
vance and take her, seeing that now had
| Bougwan become woman, and no longer
| knew the good from evil, when behold! she
| was gone"
Gomez | calculated.
"Ay, gone; and there stood BOugwan,
| staring at the wall like one asleep, and
presently he went 100, and | waited awhile
and came away also"
Art thou sure, Umslopogaus," said !,
| chat thou hast not been a dreamer this
night?"
I. reply he opened his left hand, and
produced about three inches of the blade,
| of Il dagger of the finest steel. 'lf | be,
MacuniaZlhu, behold what the dream left
with me. The knife broke upon Bougwan'5
| bosom, and us passed picked this up in
the sleeping place of the White Queen"
CHAPTER XvIu.-wAR RED WAR!
Telling Umslopogaas 10 wait, tumbled
into my clothes and went off with him to
Sir Henry's room, where the Zulu repeated
his story word for word. 1t WAS sight to
watch Curtis face rs he heard it,
Great heavenS!' he said; here have
been snoring away while Nylrptha WIS
nearly murdered-and all through me; too
What Il fend that Sorais must be! It would
have served her well If UmslOpUgaaS had
cut her down III the act"
"Ay," said the Zulu "Fearnot; I should
have slain her ere she struck. l was but
waiting the moment"
After he had told his tale UmslGpOgaas
went of unconCernedly to get his morn
ing meal, and Sir Henry and fell TO talk
ing
At first he was very bitter against Good,
who, he said, was no longer to be trusted,
having designedly allowed Sorais to escape
by some secret stair, when it was his duty
TO have handed her over to justice. In
deed, lie spoke in the most unmeasured
terms on the matter.
length, lone would never think, to hear
you talk, that you were the man who had
an interview with this same lady ycSter-
day, and found it rather difficult to resist
her destinations, notwithstanding your ties
tn On@ Of the lOyelicSt and most loving
women in the whole world Now suppose
that it was Nylcptha who had tried to
murder SoraiS and YOU had caught her,
and she had pleaded with UOH. would you
have been SO very eager to hand her over
to an open shame, and to death by fire?
Just look ut the matter through Goods
eye-glass for a minute before YOU dcnounce
an Old friend as n ScOundrcl"
He listened to this jobation submissvely,
and then frankly acknowledged that he
had spoken hardly.
While we were bordering, and wonder
ing what was to be done--for the whole
subject was athOrny one-I suddenly heard
Il great clamOr in the courtyard outside,
and distinguished the voices of Umslopo-
gaas and AlphOnSe, the former cursing
furtously, and the latter yelling in terror.
Hurrytng out to see what was the mat
ter, | was met by ludicrous sight. The
little frenchman was running up the
courtyard at an extraordinary speed, and
after him sped UmslOpogaas like great
greyhound. Just as | came out he caught
him, and, lifting him right off his legs car
rled him some PAGES to n beautiful but
very dense Towering shrub. which bore a
flower not unlike the gardenia, but was
covered with short thorns. Next despite
his bowls and struggles. he with one
mighty thrust plunged poor AlphOnse head
first into the bush, so that nothing but the
calves of his legs and his heels remained
in evidence. Then, satisfied with what he
had done, the Zulu folded his arms and
stood grimly contemplating the French
mans kicks. and listening to his wells,
which We're awful.
What art thoa doing'" | said, running
up. "WouldSt thou Kill the man? Pull him
out of the BUSH
1t appeared that Alpbonsa habitually
cooked UmslopOgaas' porridge, Which the
latter ate for breakfast In the corner of the
courtyard. just us he would have done at
home in Zululand. from n gourd and with
n wooden spoon. Now Umslopogals had,
like many Zulus, a great horror of fish,
which he considered a species OF water
snake. So Alphouse, who was as fond of
playing tricks rs a monkey, and who was
! also n consummatt cook, determined to
make him eat some. Accordingly, he
grated up quantity of whitc-fsh very
finely, ana rmNJy; 81 with the Zulr's por-
ridge, who swallowed it nearly al! down
in ignorance of what he was eating But,
unfortunately for AlphonSe, he could not
restrain his joy at this sight, and came
capering and peerlng round till az last
CmSlopognas. who WAS very clever in his
way. suspected something, and after a
careful examination of the remains of his
porridge, discovered the buffalo heifer's
trick, :" and i'll revenge, served him as |
have said.
This incident was unimportant enough
in itself, but n2rrate il because it led to
serious consequences. As soon as he had
Staunched the bleeding from his scratches,
and washed himself. AlphOnse went off